Saturday, April 30, 2011

Good Saturday morning everyone. It is a little cool but going to reach 80 here in East Tn today. It is always good to see you and I love reading all your comments. You have all became friends through them. You know the coffee is on. Today we are back on DD Hazelnut. I tell you I just love a good cup of coffee. I hope you will enjoy it this morning. It is a little chilly, so coffee is good.
Last time I shared a few of my prim lighting. It seems lighting is important in Prim decorating. I love lamps and have them everywhere. You know I like candles too and am absolutely in love with the battery candles on a timer. They look wonderful in your chandeliers that are not electrified, and they come on automatically. I'll get a picture when mine come on next time and show you.

This is another lamp made from a jug. The shade is made of flax linen, from Ginny curry antiques. It is the same material of all my curtains. I love the color and the texture.

This one I ordered from Ervins when I bought the lighting for the living room and reading nook, years ago. I think they call it the Betsey Ross.

This is another Ervins. I got it at The Speckled Hen in Clinton. This one and the Betsey Ross is in the kitchen-dining area. They are the same color and match the witches hat hanging lights. I still really like tin.

Another jug lamp. This one is in the bedroom and is a Rowe Pottery lamp.

This floor lamp,(bridge lamp is the original name and they are just from 20's or 30's) make the best reading lights. I have a couple of these and really use them. Next time I'll share my collection of old kerosene lights and show you the ceiling lights Through My Back Door.
Remember Picket over at Pickets Place and her What Moves You? I did it last time and want to do it again. I have to give you a little background first.(of course I would lol) How many of you had someone in your life, other than Mother or Grandmother who influenced you? I was lucky, because I had Ila. She was my Mothers first cousin's wife. She was 10 years older than me, but lessons she taught me over the years have been valuable. She taught me to peel my first potato, biting her tongue as it whittled away to nothing.I had never peeled a potato before! She was the mother of triplett boys and a daughter. When you are 14 and 24, 10 years are a lot. When you are 24 and 34 , they are nothing. We became very close and remained that way until her death in 2001. Any way we both loved antiques and I wanted a coffee grinder. I had 3 young children and the budget didn't allow it. One visit, (they lived in Ohio, we lived in Tennessee,) when she got out of the car, in her hands was a coffee grinder! YES! I was so excited I grabbed it and ran into the house!! Leaving them standing outside laughing so hard they couldn't see. Whenever I see this coffee grinder, it moves me!

I can't begin to tell you how many laughs we had over this through out the years. To this day it is one of my most treasured possessions.
Thank you for coming Through My Back Door today, where life is good.
betty
The devastation through out the south has been heart breaking. I didn't do this post today out of insensitivity to those who have lost everything. I did it to maybe brighten someones day. As I have said before, Prim lovers know what is important and have our priorities in order.We know it is not things.
Picket we are all so thankful you and your family is okay, there in Tuscaloosa.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Welcome Through My Back Door this morning for a quick visit. The coffee is on, but it is quite subdued here this morning. The South was hit hard by storms yesterday and last night. In Alabama so many were killed, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee also had fatalities. So many blogger friends are from those areas and I just pray for them and their families. So join me today in Prayers for the South and for all the displaced families. Thanks for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty

Monday, April 25, 2011

Good Monday afternoon everyone. It is such a beautiful day after Easter here in East Tn. Yesterday was beautiful too. Come on in, we going Through My Back Door on out to the front porch. It is so nice lets have a glass of Heavenly tea instead of coffee. This is a family favorite and we have it for all special meals. Today is special because you are here so lets just sit back, relax, drink our tea, and talk. I hope each of you had a wonderful Easter. We did. My granddaughter and her husband, Andrew and Mollies mama and daddy, had us for dinner on Saturday. Dodd and Renda took me to lunch yesterday. So it was wonderful. I'll show you Amanda's table.

This is Andrew sitting at his special table.

This is the four generation picture.Deb,Mollie, me and Amanda.

I just wanted to share a little of my Easter with you.
We all know you have to have the right lamps to get the prim look. Everyone's taste is different, so my ideas of prim lighting and yours may be complete opposites. I'll share a few of mine. Okay?

This is one of two that was converted from kerosene. Remember the other one was from my great aunt? I have had this one forever.

This little one you can put anywhere. Right now it is on my grandmothers pedestal at the end of my little hall.

This one is truly an old whiskey jug given to me 45 years ago by a friend. She knew the history behind it and I treasure it to this day.

This one is from an old saloon in Knoxville's old city. I'll show you up close.

Patrick Sullivans is still open down there.

This one sets on my old pie safe and lights a nice little glow.

This one of my favorites. It just says prim. Don't you think? Well I am not going to show anymore today. I don't want you to have lamp overload. You just can't have too many though, can you? Next time I'll share a few more with you if you like.
I was over at Picketts Place blog the other day and she asked the question, "what moves you?" She was speaking of things she sees that reminds her of wonderful memories. Well it got me to thinking about what moves me. There are so many things that do, but I will share this one today.
My dad was a water well driller. They drilled wells in the cold weather as well as
warm weather. He had a little silver building on wheels he took to all his sites and in that building was a little bitty laundry heater stove. He also had a little cupboard where he kept his lard, coffee, salt,etc. I have it on the wall in a bedroom. When I see it it moves me. I remember going to work with him and feeling the mud oozing between my toes in the summer time. I remember going in the winter time huddling by that little stove to keep warm and eating the best ever fried eggs and ham. I'll share it with you today.

This moves me. What moves you?
Thank you for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty

Friday, April 22, 2011

Welcome Through My Back Door on this beautiful Good Friday. I am so happy you have taken time out of your busy schedule to visit me. Well of course the coffee is on. Today we are having Kona and if it tastes as good as it smells we are in for a treat. You know where the cups are, help your self and come meet the Rottie who lives Through My Back Door. He is such a sweet dog, I am sure you will love him.

He is always the first to welcome you when you come and the last to want you to leave. I want to share a little about how I came to get him. I hope you won't be bored, but I'll make it as quick as possible.
My husband and I have always loved rottweillers. Our first was a female named Heidi and she was gift from a friend. Our grandchildren grew up with her and all of my special kids knew her and loved her. She was smart and would count and do other things on command. The best dog ever. Well she lived to be 11 years. A few month before she died we got Hillary. We bought her from a tech at our vet. She was the WILDEST dog ever. Honest, she was.
She was beautiful and stubborn. she ate hundreds of dollars worth of stuff, including Christmas ornaments. She was so sweet and full of herself. Not a viscious
bone in her body. She lived to be 12 years old. We had to have her put down in February 09. As she was aging I knew it was time to look for another one. There had been some big changes in my life and I began to pray, asking God to send me the right dog. I didn't want to make a mistake. I wanted one at least 3 years old as I couldn't deal with the puppy thing. So I narrowed my search down to 3. I called my vet and she didn't like any of them. She asked me not to make any decisions before I heard back from her. I complied and got the call the next day about Dasko. It was the girl we had bought Hillary from. She had bought Dasko to show and he hadn't gotten big enough. If I wanted him she would give him to me. So enter Dasko in my life. To this day she swears she doesn't know what got into as she never parts with her rotties. (She had bred one litter,of which Hillary was one, and no more.) I laugh and tell her it was a God thing, she had no control over it. Well needless to say four years later he and I are best friends. My life is much richer because of him. He is a clown, protector, and almost the perfect dog. Yesterday he wanted to take a ride. Got into the car and didn't budge. I took him to the convenience center to take the trash. After we got back he hopped right out.

All of my friends love him even those who aren't dog people. He is just a sweetheart, does all the right things and just expects food, water, and a lot of petting.

Here he is with Andrew. They are almost the same size!
Well I wanted you to know there is more Through My Back Door than just prims.lol I'll leave you one last picture. This Dasko saying Happy Easter.

As I read other blogs I see how many people love their fur babies and how much they are a part of your families. Sadly I have seen where some of you have lost yours lately, and I want to recommend the best book.

It is so sweet and well written. I was given this when we lost Hiedi and I can't tell you how many I have given. If you or someone you love has lost a dog or cat. It is a wonderful gift. There is one for cats too.
Well thank you for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS I wish each and everyone of you a Blessed Easter.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Good Monday morning everyone. I am so glad to see you and it is such a pretty morning here. You know what? It won't be long until we can have our coffee on the porch or patio. Won't that be fun? Enough of what we will do, let's get our coffee and have a little visit. I hope you enjoyed your visit to Deb and Carols. They both love their homes and it shows.
Well I told you I was going to paint my porch and I did. I don't have it decorated yet, but hopefully next visit we will have a new backdoor picture. I need to get it decorated and I will. After I painted Wednesday I was attacked by a horrible virus! See, I knew painting was bad for you!lol I have been sick for almost a week. I do not like being sick, but am better now. Enough of that! I wanted to share my small collection of Pantry Boxes with you. I love boxes as you know.(another addiction), but pantry boxes were used for so many things. They fascinate me.

These three are displayed in the great room. The little one has written in old script, soda. Some housewife was certainly organized! The larger one has something stamped on top.

These two are my favorites. They have the prettiest patina on them. It doesn't show up as nice as it looks. I got them from my friend Marsha, at Corner Antiques. Why do we always have a favorite in our collections?

These two are full of spices. I try to use most everything. (The firkins are full too. The smaller one spices, the larger one corn meal). One of these has soda stamped on it. The other is bright pink inside and I bought it in Maine two years ago.

This one is full of bay leaves. See things can be useful as well as decorative.

Not an old one, but I love it. The color is so pretty. It is from the Shaker Village, Pleasant Hill, Ky.
You know what is in it? My beautiful fall bowl fillers from Sarah.(All Roads Lead Home) They are safe in there.

These are some Deb painted and gave me years ago. They are on my dresser and I keep costume jewelry in them. That is all of my Pantry Boxes. I don't buy them now because I just have too much stuff! I will buy more, but they have to call my name. I think a collection should be something you really love.Otherwise why collect them? One of the things I enjoy about prim friends is the fact we love "things" but know it isn't about "things." We know what is important in life. We have our priorities straight, we just enjoy the icing on the cake.
Thanks for coming Through My Back Door again, where life is good. I can't wait until our next visit.
betty

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Welcome Through My Back Door. Today is the day I promised we would see two prim homes running over with prim bunnies and decor for spring. The first stop will be at my friend Carols. You have been to her home before at Christmas and in the fall. I hope you enjoy your visit. I am just going to show you pictures. Please help yourself to the coffee as it is a long ride. By the way it is DD Hazelnut again today. Can you take it with you? Of course you can. What prim home doesn't have the coffee pot on and will enjoy it with you.

Now we will go inside. Don't you just love those outdoor bunnies?

Carol loves peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter. I will show you part of her collection.

Before we leave Carols I want to show you her seasonal jar in the kitchen. This is filled with goodies of whatever the season is. I think that is such a good idea.

I hope you enjoyed visiting Carol's house this morning. Now we will go and visit the other one. It is my daughter Deb's. Yes, the one who won't let me near a paint brush. Actually she is my only daughter and I am blessed we love the same things. I hope you like what you will see here.

Don't you love that old wagon?

This is one of my favorites.It shows what you can do with old tool totes.

I hope you have enjoyed the visit to these two prim homes today. They are both wonderful homes and their decorations are just so much fun. I know it has been long, but hopefully you didn't mind.
Thanks for coming Through My Back Door today, even if was only briefly, where life is good.
betty
http://picturetrail.com/debkaye

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Hellomy name is Betty and welcome to my blog.Come on In through my back door. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. We can talk about family and friends, decorating with primitives, the weather.. or just life in general.My back door is always open to a friend...